Riddle me this Funcom

Why is the Reptilian armor from a people who live, and only wear it, in a volcano. A recipe that is found in the Dregs in the desert?

How do the Dogs of the Desert fare with cold armor in the middle of the desert, in furs that are only found on animals in the desert?

How cold are the winters in Kambuja compared to other tropical climates?

How do the simple Cimmerians come to master star metal, when there home is so much more humble?

The Pict are native people who live in the harsh wilds of a tundra, why this warm armor when it suit ill their temperment?

I question the existence of Yamata, but I understand the Japanese includement over canon…like most of what I have listed above and yet still more below.

The Giant-Kings mastered teleporting from a stone to an obelisk, both of their design…but had to walk back?

Why the need for black blood, when archery is such a lack-luster form of combat as it is. There is no way to climb and use a bow in dungeons now, decent ammo is more inconvenient than is necessary, so why run around with a bow? The only consistent application of a bow is as another form of healing…I can make healing and poison arrows galore, set arrows are outrageously priced for the damage they do, “ice” arrows are just arrows, and fire-spark and acid arrows are this mystic thing that can be only made by these rare creatures (bosses only kids). Speaking of which, who thought of the idea that Manifestations of Zeal were a good idea as a material, I now have to hunt hearts to make into potions to throw on the ground so I can have enough for arrow and summoning a god if I wanted to.

Many times it has been mentioned that temperature augmentations for armour would be appreciated, and I for one second billion it. Maybe a T4 hidden recipe for some fun perhaps.

What is the weight of wood? How does it take 20 logs (10 logs=1 bark) to make enough bark to dry 1 log? 2 log breaks down to 2 twigs (only from a professional of course). 10 logs make 1 shaped wood but only two logs make 1 insulated wood (logs apparently grow longer as well when they are dried and split into 2)

I have to go to the frost forge to make weapons but I can handle black-ice like no-one’s business for building?

Why am I rubbing explosive powder on my body and going out running around, I would think they would catch fire out there in the heat, or does the dye make the powder inert?

How is black and white dye so magical? Throw something real, gold or silver dye from a T4. I can make dyes darker with a dye darkener but black evades me (if only I were aware of the oil being black).

Here I will end my rant, for it felt good to get it off my chest and out for everyone’s criticism while Funcom will once again ignore, or at best deflects these inconsistencies when the lore is out there for anyone to find now.

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Short answer: It’s a game. Some decisions were made from the viewpoint of making all areas of the game interesting and having a reason to go back to even in late-game, even if doesn’t necessarily make sense from a lore point of view.

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Some of your thoughts and concerns are quite reasonable. Among other things, they also provide a very good base for suggestions. Above all, I think the idea for “gold color” and “silver color” is great!

Other questions can only be answered with “it’s a game and doesn’t have to be 100% realistic”.

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It’s a world with enough lore in it to keep it interesting for decades and enough grey areas to play with. Why butcher what is already there? I can’t even begin to understand how making a group of people hunt fur from wolves (who dwelling consistently cooler climate) and bring it down and wear it for the hot summers, but people accept it. I will still point out their inconsistency (even inconsistencies that they have right in Conan: Unchained but completely flipped in Conan Exiles) They have done very little right from the start, from their obvious lack of ability to code and do decent gfx (they basically made the community pay for a continued alpha, presented as ending-beta/finished work of course) to simply throwing things together because of whatever illogical method they were using (Those Kambusian in that tropical climate sure do know how to make winter wear for hose sub-arctic winters). But people flock to the visuals and the concept and then complain about lore and lack of balance in so many areas (I do recognize that balance is truly necessary even though the Conan world is about anything other than balance).

While I am voicing my displeasure and am also trying my own hand at modelling the Conan world and am learning UE4 and how to do gfx so I can present a more realistic version of the Conan world as I am a fan of Howard’s works and was sold a lie in not only lore, but the readiness of the game to present something consistently playable. I am grateful that I do have the ability to mod this game and for that I thank Funcom.

I’m not even talking realistic in our world, but what was in Howard’s world…which was based on real civilizations in our world at different time periods. Even the “it’s a game” fall short in every aspect because “it’s a game” translates into the people will buy anything no matter how obvious the inconsistencies are. This is saying that preying on ignorance is acceptable so long as people accept it once it comes to light. They have their money so what does it matter.

A somewhat fair summary of the Gameindusty/Gamer relationship. With some Gamers its like they just couldnt find an actual abusive boyfriend or are allergic to cats, so they chose to fall in love with a company that gives them very little good and a lot of crap. I do however think that even though the state Conan Exiles launched in was simply put a “constant-crashing-disaster”, it has kept improving into something that CAN give you more joy than grief, if you choose so.

A good rant is fun though :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I will completely agree with you, some of the additions they have been making have been quite fun and don’t feel like I paid for a pile of crap. This last patch, phenomenal on my game performance. I still notice issues in some of the same spots, such at the island in Sepumaru where the Lone Fisherman spawns, I still experience horrible rubberbanding making knocking him out a difficult process. But that is one specific instance; that I am going to send in as a bug; in easily a couple hundred I no longer notice. So I do acknowledge that they have been progressing in performance issues, but those are a necessity to keep the “it’s a game” base.

After all, we rant, because we care. :wink:

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I also have way too much time on my hands and little cash to spend on games so I take my purchases seriously and my time frivolously.

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They mention in a stream awhile back, about this.
Insert Number of Cold resist armors - ???
Insert Number of Heat resist armors - ???

If one is higher then other… it gets insert resist.

I assume…maybe at one point, Before Volcano came to be, we need a Cold Armor…and a Dungeon to hadn it out so player could go north.
So it became a cold armor. Muhc like some of others… that dont feel like they should be cold.

I know they shot idea down…but tool upgrades to change it be nice.

Look at Turan… desert people with cold armor…(It can get cold in desert at night…like cold cold) But it doesnt in-game. People didnt like it. It got flipped last patch… and people got mad, and now its patch back to cold… so…you know. It almost became lore friendly…then didnt. XD

Theres a few armors that weird me out. I love Khitan(light) for light weight cold armor. Can carry alot of goodies back.
But…has no gloves… and a band for helmet. 0_o
Kinda gotta mix and match gears to look like I’m ready for cold. I really wish we’d get the Voltares hood in new form (same stats and look, but cold resist)

This once again goes back to the good ol’ “it’s just a game” and I once again say, they had a lore rich world to pluck so much from but they didn’t because they know that as a consumer base we will pay for anything regardless of value so long as it gives in to our base desire. Kambuja is based on Cambodia why did they have to be the one put in the original game as a cold armor? They took names and concepts and twisted them without any true forethought.

Once again, you illustrate my point, so long as the consumer base is willing to accept it, no matter how crappy, there is no point in them putting effort. Just take the Conan name, and people will buy. The people who actually enjoy the stuff and kept it alive are given nothing and are told to accept it because the masses are locusts.

Aye and when you die they will eat your face of… out of love, i guess.

It was a joke of cause. It is quite common that many cats say “thank you” for that salmonfilet and your eternal affection by putting their claws into your arm. :wink:

I guess this is what gets me. “It’s a game.” You are saying that someone else’s life work means nothing so long as the graphics are cool. It doesn’t matter that these game makers take the flashy stuff and the cool ideas that someone else had, rip it apart and want to be called artists because the masses say “it’s just a game”…“it’s just a movie”. Imagine someone sells you a BMW with the engine of a Ford Focus, it’s still a BMW right? You will still buy it because it says BMW right? So long as it looks good and has the cool name, it doesn’t matter what’s on the inside. Had they made this game concept in a world of their making I would happily accept anything. But they chose to take a legacy that millions have enjoyed over the years and gut it and destroy it because so long as it says Conan it’s Conan, right?

Actually, that’s exactly what I’m not saying. As I’ve said in other contexts, I’m a Howard purist, and I would strongly prefer that Funcom stick as close to the primary sources as possible.

But I understand that from a game designer’s perspective, there is a need to make compromises. I can live with most of it, and I can choose not to buy the DLCs that don’t fit into my idea of a Howardian Hyborian Age. I make it a point to tell my opinion on these forums and point out to the dev team if their decisions don’t match with the original lore. And considering that Joel Bylos is quite the expert on Conan lore, I can trust that if they choose to deviate from the lore, they do it because they have a reason for it.

I know more about Conan lore than I do about game design; Funcom has knowledge of both of these. So I can question their decisions from my perspective, but I can’t tell them they’re wrong, because they have a more holistic view on the game.

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I think it is difficult for someone who is an expert on lore and has an analytical mind to justify why they went with a region; that even in the lore little is known of; to choose to design an armor of an even rarer sight than a Kambujan themselves, and then make it a cold weather armor. There is no lore or logical way that I can find to twist a tropical people into wearing winter armor. What about Bythunia, a slavic based country near Cimmeria who might wear actual winter clothes? I mean, this is an original armor of the base game; when they were selecting things and could have worked towards the end goals while staying in line with the lore. The slavs had enough variations they could have done wonderful things. Instead, a tropical people who wear winter clothes in the heat. Basically all they have said is we know we don’t follow lore, we don’t care, it isn’t cost effective. Which breaks down to, people will buy anything, we just have to put in enough work to catch their attention. This is why the game industry is pumping out so many lackluster games overall, no true love from the community nor the industry, just consume and feed the greedy industry because money.

Game are meant to be fun…not torture. Gameplay/Fun > realism/100%Lore.

Exiles Lands itself is semi-outside lore… most of this game wouldn’t exist if we went full lore mode on it.
If we get sorcery… were gonna be sitting are character near some stuff, coming back in real weeks time to finally summon demon we wanted cause were not that good at Sorcery. XD

Inless the Meos guy near ruins keeps to his word that it can be taught. And he helps us find Amoth, or he is tied to Mummy of Set in some way.

I love LotrO, they stay 99% to lore… they added chicken ball, and some stuff that “fits” It be nice if they let us Fight a Balrog during event. But no… non one has fought one like that, so we can’t outside the Rift. -_-’

To me… Purest means go read the books. Video games…lets have some fun.

I’m not even talking purity really, but at least stick to the basic content. Kambuja is a tropical place. I am not even saying ti shouldn’t be there for the reasons of the nation itself be so isolated, just that it is a jungle. That is all. There was no need to make that particular armor cold when there are several other cold nations that could have been pulled from, i.e. Bythunia. The only lore thing my rant truly had was about a tropical people’s armor being for the snow when there were other options for cold. Kambuja would have made a great DLC; mystical Kambuja, the land where few return from.

Everything else was truly mechanical. I wasn’t saying things need to be realistic real.

The bark idea was great, but I feel poorly implemented, maybe there is a balance I don’t understand, but the discrepancies in things sometimes kill me, but fine that’s balance and I can live with that.

The arrow thing and archery thing, archery is still quite lackluster and they added awesome ammo that seems more difficult to make than maybe necessary in a field that that is still lacking.

I agree, which is why I can live with the decisions made by Funcom here. If they were trying to write a Conan narrative (such as the single-player RPG that was canceled) I would be a lot more critical when it comes to the lore. You won’t see me complain about how the temperature resistance of the various cultural armors makes no sense here (even though you can see me complaining how the temperature resistance system in general doesn’t make sense).

I agree with that, a Conan Game were he was star, would need to really stick to its thing, with good gameplay.

Something like Exiles lands is more of free zone. I’m not purest by any means… I got into movies as a kid, When I finally sat down with book. I fell in love with fact it was short story, not in any real order, that covered itself quite well.

I do consider Books to be fair canon, but movies… they will always hold a spot for me. "these are times of high adventure! que the music!